A $1-million grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation will establish the College Advising Corps, a partnership among Brown University, Rhode Island public schools, and community organizations as part of a nationwide initiative aimed at increasing college enrollment and graduation among low-income high school and community college students. Through this program, the University’s Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service will recruit and train current students and recent college graduates to work as advisers in the schools.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown
University] — The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation today awarded Brown
University a $1-million grant to establish the College Advising Corps, based at
the University’s Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service. The award is
part of a $10-million nationwide initiative aimed at significantly increasing
college enrollment and graduation among low-income high school and community
college students.

The initiative will expand existing college-access programs at
the Swearer Center by strengthening its current program of student volunteer
college advisers and recruiting and training college seniors to work full time
as advisers for one or two years following graduation. The advisers will provide
guidance for approximately 1,000 students in up to 13 high schools statewide,
helping students apply to a wide range of postsecondary institutions that fit
their individual academic profiles, career goals and personal circumstances.

“Many organizations and the public schools have been
working hard to make a college education more accessible, but the opportunity
still remains out of reach for far too many students in this state,” said
Roger Nozaki, director of the Swearer Center and an associate dean of the
College. “This grant allows us to partner with those schools and
organizations to expand the resources available to hundreds of Rhode Island
students – particularly those who would be first-generation college
students – and ensure they have the information and support they need to
succeed.”

The goal of the foundation’s initiative is to reduce the
rate of college-qualified, low-income high school graduates who fail to earn
bachelor’s degrees, by providing college admission and financial aid
guidance to disadvantaged students. The U.S. Department of Education estimates
that 4 million potential college degree recipients have been
“lost” during the last two decades. As the foundation’s
research reveals, many of America’s top-performing, lower-income students
are among those “lost” degree recipients.

“We are squandering a huge national resource when millions
of America’s best high school graduates never get to college,” said
Matthew J. Quinn, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
“Our foundation is committed to addressing the college enrollment gap by
providing crucial information to promising students facing financial
barriers.”

Lack of information about admissions and financial aid is a
significant barrier to college for low-income students – who are much less
likely than their counterparts in wealthier communities to have access to SAT
preparation, college application guidance, and information about financial aid.
On average there is only one high school counselor for every 488 American public
high school students.

The groundbreaking “College Guide” program, which
was funded by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation at the University of Virginia and
serves as the model for its initiative, places recent college graduates in
communities where college-going rates are below the state average, to help
students plan for and complete the college application process. This program was
recently expanded to include counseling for community college students
interested in transferring to four-year institutions. Recent Jack Kent Cooke
Foundation-funded research also underscores the importance of personal transfer
counseling for low-income students who attend community college and the need to
increase transfer advising on community college campuses.

“This innovative approach has succeeded in Virginia with
notable increases in applications to colleges in high schools where the guides
work,” said Josh Wyner, vice president of programs for the Jack Kent Cooke
Foundation. “At one Virginia high school, we saw a 23-percent jump in the
college admissions acceptance rate.”

“Now low-income students in Rhode Island will get access
to much-needed guidance from a larger number of mentors who can inspire them to
reach farther,” he added.

The other grant recipients are Franklin and Marshall College,
Loyola College in Maryland, Pennsylvania State University, Tufts University, the
University of Alabama, the University of California–Berkeley, the
University of Missouri, the University of North Carolina– Chapel Hill and
the University of Utah. The University of North Carolina– Chapel Hill, in
partnership with the National College Access Network, will also create a
National College Advisory Corps Coordinating Office to support the development
of the grants and encourage other universities to start similar programs.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent
foundation established in 2000 by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke to help young
people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education. It
focuses in particular on students with financial need. The foundation’s
programs include scholarships to undergraduate, graduate and high school
students, and grants to organizations that serve high-achieving students with
financial need.

The Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service

The Swearer Center works to connect the capacities of the
University and community to address inequalities in our society and communities;
to create, share, and apply knowledge for the public good; and to educate and
prepare students for lives of effective action. For more information, visit
www.swearercenter.brown.edu.

Editors:
Brown University has a fiber link television
studio available for domestic and international live and taped interviews, and
maintains an ISDN line for radio interviews. For more information, call (401)
863-2476.